Great Communicator

GREAT COMMUNICATOR DEBATE SERIES

NAUDL is excited to announce a new partnership with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. The GreatCommunicator Debate Series offers the opportunity for your students to compete for college scholarships and a trip to the national championship at the Reagan Presidential Library this July. $50,000 in scholarship money is available for participating students. Qualifiers for the national tournament will have travel costs for the student and a chaperon covered for the national tournament in Simi Valley, CA. The finals will be held between July 19-22, 2018.

Students can qualify for the national championship in three ways this spring:

1) Regional qualifiers- Qualifying tournaments will be held across the country. Regional qualifiers will be held near Washington DC, New York City, Kansas City, Austin and Los Angeles. A number of spots at each district qualifier have been reserved for urban debate league competitors.

2) Online qualifiers- Students who cannot attend a regional qualifier can compete online. Debates will be held via videochat with other competitors from across the country. Students interested in competing online can sign up here.

3) Urban Debate Qualifiers-The top two students from the NAUDL Online Regional Competition qualified for the Reagan National Championship. Both of these two qualifiers will receive a free trip to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and scholarship money for the college of their choice. Each qualifier also earned their debate program $250 by qualifying for this debate competition.

FORMAT:

The Ronald Reagan GreatCommunicator Debate Series is designed to provide an avenue for high school students across the country to develop their civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions as they research, discuss, and engage in public debate.The format is designed to mimic presidential debates, similar to Flip the Debate. Students debate one on one, instead of as teams In keeping with the presidential debate spirit, the moderator will have a chance to conduct a short question period during the round. Examples and guidelines can be found on their Resources Page.

RESOLUTION:

The regional debate topic is: "The United States should shift the power of congressional redistricting away from state legislatures."